Wings
by 42YellowSocks
Summary: Glimpses of Lily's days at Hogwarts and beyond, and the impact her life had on the ones who knew her best. One shot.


Note: this is still a bit rough, and I'm not entirely happy with some of it, but I thought I'd put it up anyway. Please review!

**Wings**

Lily loved music. It was one of the first things anyone noticed about her. She was always humming something. After learning that half of Hogwarts had never even heard of the Beatles, she made it her mission in life to educate them. After all, how could one NOT know who the Beatles were?

The first night at Hogwarts Lily tried playing her records. She searched all over the dormitory for an outlet before she remembered that the castle ran by magic and no electricity. So Lily set out to find a clever person to make her record player work. There was a boy sitting in a corner of the common room, reading something that looked suspiciously like poetry. Lily approached him, trying to remember his name. "Hello" she said. The boy jumped and gazed up at her from behind his book.  
"do you know how to make record players work here?" Lily asked, plopping down on the couch beside him. He looked a bit taken aback by her boldness at first, then smiled, "sure I do. why, have you got one?"  
"Yes, and I totally forgot that it wouldn't work here, I mean, its a magic school, of course there's no electricity! But I have just GOT to listen to my new Beatles album, Let It Be has got to be one of the best songs ever! I should have remembered it wouldn't work..."  
"You like the Beatles?" he sounded surprised, "so do I," he grinned " I'm Remus by the way"

"Hey Lily, could you stop humming that, please? Some of us are trying to do homework" Sirius whined one day two weeks before the N.E.W.T.S. exams. Lily had finally managed to badger all four of them into studying, and they were sprawled out on the floor, notes everywhere. They weren't getting much work done however, the sun streaming through the windows was making them sleepy, and James seemed rather preeocupied with the way it was glinting off of Lily's hair.  
"Oh yeah, and what a novel idea that is," Lily teased. "Look everyone! Sirius Black is doing his homework! Gather round and watch in awe!"  
James, who hadn't been nearly as annoyed by the humming as Sirius, gave him a look.  
"Lily, hum as much as you like," he looked thoughtful, "by the way, what is that song? You've been humming it for a week straight"  
"I just can't seem to get this one out of my head," Lily replied with a wry smile "Its called Blackbird and its by the Beatles."  
"Sounds interesting," James said, turning to her. "Why don't you sing it for me?"  
"Oh no! I'm not singing here in the middle of the common room, you dolt" Lily said.  
"Aw come on, sing it!" James demanded. He gave her is Irresistible James Potter Look, which in reality was hardly irresistible and just a bit frightening.  
Lily rolled her eyes. "You can't be serious. Just because I finally caved and agreed to go out with you does not mean you can just command me to sing, so you can wipe that look off your face," she teased. "Besides, You don't want to hear me sing, anyway"  
"But I am serious!" James insisted.  
"I assure you that you most certainly are not, much as you might like to think that you are" Sirius replied. Peter laughed.  
"Sirius, that joke got old approximately six years ago," Remus said without looking up from his notes. "I'd like to hear it, Lily. I'm not familiar with that particular song, I'm afraid." Remus gave her an encouraging smile, his charms notes momentarily forgotten.  
Lily relented. "Well alright. But James, I'm singing this for Remus, not for you. Remember that". Lily grinned wickedly at the hurt look on James' face. "What!" He exclaimed, "What did I do? That is hardly..."

But lily cut him off as she sat up straight, cleared her throat and began to sing.

"_Blackbird singing in the dead of night  
Take these broken wings and learn to fly  
All your life  
You were only waiting for this moment to arise._

_Blackbird singing in the dead of night  
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see  
All your life  
You were only waiting for this moment to be free._

_Blackbird fly Blackbird fly  
Into the light of the dark black night."_

Lily grinned self consciously. "well, what do you think, boys?"  
James was gaping at her. "You can SING!"  
"Yeah!" Peter agreed in awe.  
"I should recruit you for my band" Sirius joked.  
"Beautiful," Remus muttered, so no one would hear.

The marauders were gathered in the Potter's living room as usual, happy for the warm fire in the hearth after the winter cold outside. Sirius was soundly beating Peter at chess, James was slumped down in the couch with his feet on the coffee table, teasing Peter and Sirius about their chess skills. Remus was sipping a mug of hot chocolate and watching the scene with mild amusement. and Lily was in her chair by the fire with Harry in her arms, humming.

Remus didn't think he'd ever grow tired of this; these simple, quiet evenings with James and Lily. Or was that Mr. And Mrs. Potter now? It seemed so strange that they were married now. Wasn't it only yesterday that James was composing awkward sonnets for Lily; truly awful monstrosities in which he's compare her eyes to the color of frogs and her hair to phoenix feathers. It still surprised Remus sometimes that Lily had ever gone out with James. She could have had any guy in school. But she loved him, and that was what mattered. They were so happy now, and they had little Harry, who was looking more and more like James every day. "James, you gave the poor kid you hair!" Sirius had said when Harry was born. At the time, Remus hardly noticed the fuzz of black hair, he had seen Harry's eyes. They were Lily's eyes.

Remus smiled as he watched Lily rocking Harry gently, humming snatches of an old tune he knew so well. The one about blackbirds. She seemed to always be singing that one.

They were buried on a cold, rainy day in early November.

In one night, Remus had lost everyone that mattered to him. Now he stood, drenched, and watched as two identical caskets were lowered into two rectangular holes in the earth. He was glad it was raining, that way he couldn't tell if those were raindrops or tears running down his face. It was as if the very earth were weeping for all of the innocent souls lost to Voldemort.

The morning after it happened, Remus had seen them out in the street. Wizards, celebrating the defeat of a devil, barely remembering the angels he'd killed. The surreal irony of it all had been overwhelming.

The funeral ended, and the small group of people who had attended the ceremony scattered, umbrellas bobbing away through the worsening downpour. Remus turned to go, but something held him back. He turned back to look at the single headstone between the two graves, and noticed something he had overlooked before.

Entwined about the edge of the block of granite were lilies carved into the stone. Lily; her life had been so beautiful, like a flower. Memories flooded to the surface of Remus's mind: Lily whirling around the kitchen at Godric's Hollow with little Harry in her arms, Lily singing. He remembered how James had been so nervous on the wedding day that Sirius began taking bets on whether the groom would pass out at the altar. He remembered James complaining about having to pick out furniture, even though it was obvious he enjoyed it immensely.

Lily and James, Remus realized, had been the exact opposite of the war and all its darkness. They had chosen to follow their hearts and start a family in a time of fear. And Remus realized with a start that though they had died, the Potters had won.

Remus turned again to go, and as he walked down the path towards the cemetery entrance, he began to hum softly to himself.

"Blackbird..."


End file.
